International Social Survey Programme

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International Social Survey Programme Members (2016)

The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) is a collaboration between different nations conducting surveys covering topics which are useful for social science research. The ISSP researchers develop questions which are meaningful and relevant to all countries which can be expressed in an equal manner in different languages. The results of the surveys provide a cross-national and cross-cultural perspective to individual national studies. By 2021, 58 countries have already taken part in the ISSP.

History

The ISSP was founded in 1984 by research organizations from four countries:

• Zentrum für Umfragen, Methoden, und Analysen (ZUMA), Mannheim, Germany, now GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences
• National Opinion Research Center (NORC), University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States.
• Social and Community Planning Research (SCPR), London, United Kingdom, now National Centre for Social Research, NatCen
• Research School of Social Sciences (RSSS), Australian National University, now School of Demography Canberra, Australia.

Four different Social Surveys included a common module each year:

• The British Social Attitudes Survey (BSA) in the UK
• The General Social Survey (GSS) in the USA
• The ALLBUS or German General Social Survey (GGSS) in Germany and
• The Surveys by the Research School of Social Sciences

Since then social science institutions from 58 different countries included a 15-minute supplement to their national surveys. The membership to the ISSP is institutional and by country. One or more than one institute in a country can co-operate on ISSP research (cf. France and Spain). The common module surveyed by the member institutions also contains an extensive common core of background variables. The modules focus on one specific topic each year and were planned to be repeated more or less every five to ten years. When it comes to the researchers choice of topics, the relevance of the area of social sciences in the year of the survey is taken into account. Given this, the ISSP deliveries data sets are helpful for both Cross-sectional studies and Time series analysis. Over time the set of modules has grown towards more diverse topics. The latest additions were Leisure Time and Sports in 2007 as well as Health and Health Care in 2011.

Organisation

The ISSP is a self-funding organisation with an emphasis on democratic decision making stated in its working principles. To accomplish this principle it has set up several groups and committees. These groups either consist of member organisations as a whole or include some particular social scientists. There are:

• The ISSP secretariat (2021-2024): FORS - Swiss Centre for Expertise in the Social Sciences, Switzerland
• The ISSP archive (GESIS Data Archive for the Social Sciences, Germany)
• Methodology research groups
• The ISSP sub-groups drawn up within the ISSP
• Drafting groups for modules
• The ISSP Standing Committee

Most of the members of these groups are elected democratically at the General Assembly. These meetings of delegates from every member state of the ISSP are held in May or June in changing locations all around the world. The General Assemblies also serve the function of discussing modules, which are to be completed the same year or begun and surveyed the upcoming one. The delegates also discuss the topics of upcoming modules.

The ISSP also gives importance to the way member organisations implement their surveys. The organisation's principles are published in its ethical statement and its working principles.

Methodology

The methodological work in the ISSP is coordinated by a Methodology Committee, consisting of six members elected at the General Meeting. It co-ordinates the work of six groups addressing different areas of cross-cultural methods, all concerned with issues of equivalence: demography, non-response, weighting, mode effects, questionnaire design and translation.

Modules by year

The datasets from the different modules conducted by participating ISSP member states can be downloaded at the GESIS Archive page. All these links lead to the official GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences homepage, where the data is provided openly for research purposes.

Year Module 2020 Environment IV 2019 Social Inequality V 2018 Religion IV 2017 Social Networks and Social Resources III 2016 Role of Government V 2015 Work Orientations IV 2014 Citizenship II 2013 National Identity III 2012 Family and Changing Gender Roles IV 2011 Health and Health Care 2010 Environment III 2009 Social Inequality IV

2008 Religion III 2007 Leisure Time and Sports 2006 Role of Government IV 2005 Work Orientations III 2004 Citizenship 2003 National Identity II 2002 Family and Changing Gender Roles III 2001 Social Relations and Support Systems ('Social Networks II') 2000 Environment II 1999 Social Inequality III 1998 Religion II 1997 Work Orientations II

1996 Role of Government III 1995 National Identity I 1994 Family and Changing Gender Roles II 1993 Environment I 1992 Social Inequality II 1991 Religion I 1990 Role of Government II 1989 Work Orientations I 1988 Family and Changing Gender Roles I 1987 Social Inequality I 1986 Social Networks and Support Systems I 1985 Role of Government I

Modules by topic

Source:

Citizenship 2004 2014 Environment 1993 2000 2010 2020 Family and Changing Gender Roles 1988 1994 2002 2012 2022 Health and Healthcare 2011 2021

Leisure Time & Sports 2007 National Identity 1995 2003 2013 Religion 1991 1998 2008 2018 Role of Government 1985 1990 1996 2006 2016

Social Networks 1986 2001 2017 Social Inequality 1987 1992 1999 2009 2019 Work Orientation 1989 1997 2005 2015 2025 National Identity and Citizenship 2023 Digital Societies 2024

Members (1984–2021)

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External links

• Official website
• French ISSP Website
• GESIS ISSP Archive
• International Journal of Sociology special issues on ISSP data

Bibliography

• Davis, James A., and Roger Jowell. "Measuring national differences: an introduction to the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP)." British Social Attitudes: Special International Report, edited by Roger Jowell, Sharon Witherspoon, and Lindsay Brook. Aldershot: Gower (1989): 1-13.
• Smith, Tom W. "The international social survey program." International Journal of Public Opinion Research 4.3 (1992): 1992.
• Max Haller, Roger Jowell et Tom Smith (dir.), Charting the Globe: The International Social Survey Programme, 1984-2009, London, Routledge, 2009 (Template:ISBN)